The Seminar will bring together actors of culture and social development from various backgrounds (including representatives of local authorities, NGOs, foundations, research centers, universities, international organisations as well as artists and cultural practitioners.) The objective is to exchange the latest ideas and practices on culture and heritage preservation as it relates to community development in both developed/developing environments.
The sessions will be hold in the city of Stalowa Wola (Poland), with an additional session in Krakow, hosted by the Jagiellonian University.

Background

Both tangible and intangible heritages can play a role in the development of local communities. Heritage is part of a common past; it is a source of the community identity. Working at the preservation of heritage contributes to strengthen a common sense of identity within a community. Through the recognition of the past, preservation of heritage helps in the preparation of a better future.

The impact of heritage on local communities is not only immaterial: it can become very concrete as soon as local actors are involved in the preservation and promotion processes. Heritage, when well managed, can become a tool to share experiences, exchange know-how and to integrate local communities into international networks.

When it is linked to tourism, heritage can also become a direct source of income. However, in order to avoid the consequences of uncontrolled development of mass tourism and its negative impacts on sites preservation, local communities have to be directly involved in cultural and eco-tourism approaches.

ARCADE welcomes presentations for this seminar and opened two calls for proposals